Gray's return bolsters Twins' sensational staff

MINNEAPOLIS -- The overall success of the Twins’ pitching staff has been one of the biggest developments of the young 2022 season in Minneapolis -- and they’d been putting up those impressive results in large part without their prized starting pitcher acquisition.

And now, Sonny Gray is back, too.

Gray’s stuff looked as sharp as ever in his return from a right hamstring strain, as the veteran right-hander struck out seven in four scoreless frames to lead a shutout effort by the Twins’ pitching staff that proved necessary for a 1-0 victory over the A’s on Saturday, extending the club’s winning streak at Target Field to eight games.

“Attack the zone and have a good plan and come out feeling good,” Gray said. “I mean, the ball felt great in my hand going through this whole [recovery] process, which has been great. Yeah, just attack, attack, be myself.”

Originally, Gray was supposed to take a second rehab start with Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday, but when he was stretching in the outfield on Thursday, he ran into pitching coach Wes Johnson and said that he could pitch in the Majors if needed. An hour later, Johnson came back and gave Gray the green light -- and that paid off for the big league club.

Gray’s dominant return following a 19-day stint on the injured list due to an April 16 injury in Boston is the latest boost for a staff that has a 3.11 combined ERA, third-best in the American League behind the Yankees and Astros. In fact, the Twins’ 89 runs allowed are the club’s fewest through 28 games since the designated hitter was introduced to the AL in 1973.

The 32-year-old’s pitches moved so effectively that five of his seven strikeouts came on called strike threes, including all three when he struck out the side in the third inning -- two of which were on sinkers that started off the plate to his glove side and swerved back late to clip the corner.

“I had a couple of walks, and they were a couple of bad walks,” Gray said. “They were kind of like, you can’t continue to do that, but they kind of ignited me just a little bit to say, ‘All right, get your [crap] together here, Sonny, clean it up. Get back to attacking.’”

Even outside of Gray, Saturday’s shutout was illustrative of how the Twins’ staff has been so effective -- in large part due to the abilities of players who had been less prominent in the past to step into prominent roles and thrive.

Former journeyman left-hander Danny Coulombe followed Gray into the game and pitched 1 1/3 perfect frames for his seventh scoreless outing in eight appearances this season. Second-year right-hander Griffin Jax extended his scoreless streak to 10 1/3 innings by striking out a pair while recording five outs. And rookie Jhoan Duran continued his emergence by breaking his own record for fastest tracked pitch in Twins history -- four times! -- as he topped out at 102.8 mph in a two-inning save.

None of those three was considered a shoo-in to be pitching meaningful bullpen innings when the Twins arrived in Spring Training camp -- but a month into the season, here they are, all pitching in the tightest of games to fuel Minnesota’s fourth shutout of 2022.

There was some question as to who would step up in the bullpen following the Opening Day trade sending Taylor Rogers to San Diego and the right elbow inflammation that sent Jorge Alcala to the 60-day injured list, but the answers are blossoming before the Twins’ eyes. And that’s not to mention how the success of rookies Joe Ryan and Josh Winder have been key parts of Minnesota’s rotation dominance.

“A couple of the young guys, it feels like every time they grab the ball, they're getting better,” acting manager Jayce Tingler said. “We've got a couple different looks, and a lot of guys down there that are doing their job and that makes it a lot of fun.”

It’ll take depth and upside for a pitching staff to weather the rigors of a 162-game season. So far, the Twins have found both in unheralded places -- and now, Gray’s big name is back in the fold to build on that.

“We all know the success we're all having out of the bullpen,” Jax said. “It's not that we're trying to one-up each other, but when you see your friends and your peers do that well, you want to match it and you want to do better, internally.”